Family
by Reasons Lost
Summary: Lara and Sam prepare to spend their first Christmas together after Yamatai. Semi-fluffy. One shot. Done for Endurance Week 2015.


Sam dropped one of her many bags at her foot in the hallway and began fiddling with her keys. Tired, and yet excited, she knew exactly what she wanted to do with her remaining nervous energy. It would be her first Christmas since Yamatai, and she wanted it to be perfect. She needed it to be, and Lara did, too.

Lara had always been so dreadfully _glum_ during the holidays. Roth had been the only thing even close to real family, and with him gone, Sam knew this would be harder on Lara than ever. So, she'd gone shopping, really shopping. For things to decorate their shared flat, add a little cheer, and perk up their spirits. She'd incidentally made a stop to pick up some whiskey.

She pushed open the door and stepped inside, throwing on all of the charisma which she was so pointedly aware she possessed as she called down the hall, "I come bearing gifts!". She closed the door and began to struggle with the zippers on the sides of her boots. No amount of experience ever managed to make taking off her boots seem graceful experienced. Hopping on one foot across the floor, she abandoned the second boot halfway to the couch and crashed happily onto it, rolling onto her back and splaying her limbs. She was grateful at least that winter wasn't skirt weather.

It wasn't long before Lara emerged from her lair. She smiled at Sam, placing the book in her left hand against her hip as she stood in the entrance to the hallway, eyes bouncing pointedly between Samantha and her not inconsiderable amount of store-bought loot.

"Augh, I'll move them in a moment, sweetie", Sam protested with a smile, but sat herself up against the arm of the couch. "I'm tired", she patted the newly freed up couch space beside her as she spoke, and Lara gave her a faux-eye roll before sinking into the offered seat.

"Sam…", Lara's lap was already filling with Sam's straight black hair, her smile facing up toward Lara. "Sam, it's a bit early for gifts, don't you think?"

"You haven't been shopping yet", Sam guessed snarkily and reached up to keep Lara from looking away, caught. Colour began to fill her cheeks when Sam leaned her neck upward to gently touch their lips together. Lara's lips were always yielding and soft. Kissing her was comfortable and addicting.

Sam's head quickly fell back into Lara's lap, however. Mostly, she acknowledged, because her neck would get sore too quickly from that position. Lara's contented smile made her glad she'd backed away far enough to see it.

"No", Lara admitted. "I have not." Her voice carried a frown, which settled onto her lips moments after, and Sam felt cheated by the way it overrode Lara's smile. That would not do. She could see it darkening Lara's eyes, so she intervened as quickly as she could. She leaned up, kissing Lara again in passing as she slid her legs off of the couch and stood up.

"That's okay, love", she said, and walked to her bags, hunting gracelessly through them for the bottle of whiskey she'd bought for them. When she found it and turns back to Lara, she saw she was still smiling, and that gave her a feeling of deep relief. After Yamatai Lara had taken a long time to come back out of herself at all. It made Sam happy she could smile so easily during a time of year that used to have her so gloomy. "I'll take you shopping myself, we can go…", she trailed off, trying to remember her own obligations as well as Lara's. Truthfully it was not a strength of hers, and she'd usually forget anything she hadn't set an alarm for. "Uh… Tomorrow?", she asked tentatively.

Sam sat back down beside Lara and began fussing with the tight plastic that kept the cork in place. Lara handed her a folding knife from one of her pockets.

"I can't very well go shopping _with_ you", Lara said, as though it were the most self explanatory thing in the world, and Sam turned to face her with a pout.

"Why not?"

"W-Well…", Lara lost some of her composure, and began searching for the words that would make what she was about to say sound any way other than pathetic. "It's just… I'd want it to be a surprise. What I get you."

Sam frowned, she opened her mouth to ask the obvious question, but choked on it. _What about everyone else?_ There was no one else. "Oh…", was all she managed. Her distress must have been visible on her face because Lara pulled the whiskey from her hand and set it on the table while her other arm pulled Sam into a hug.

The gesture made Sam want to cry, it made her feel selfish and silly but she felt like someone ought to. She didn't, but the heavy feeling in her chest persisted. Instead, she pressed her lips to the corner of Lara's jaw, firmly and lengthily. When it ended she looked down between them, unsure what to say. She felt foolish.

Lara's hand came up under her chin, and when Sam looked into her eyes she could see Lara examining her the way she might an ancient artifact. _'Tell me your secrets!'_ , she had said once, miming Lara's serious expression when confronted with a photo of a clay tablet. It didn't seem appropriate to say just then.

"Samantha Nishimura", Lara said, and kissed the tip of her nose, "you will not out mope me over Christmas."

It was enough to make Sam smile and relax against Lara. "It's weird", she said, "you always used to be so gloomy this time of year, and now you're taking it all better than I am."

"Well…", Lara retrieved the whiskey, and pulled the cork from the top with her teeth. It felt wrong to just let the cork fall, so she set the bottle down, and went through the hassle of putting the cork on the table before grabbing the bottle again to take a swig. She could practically hear Sam calling her a dork, but she drowned the thought with a swig straight from the bottle, reasserting to herself that she was indeed 'cool'. Sam stared at her with a bit of impatience.

"Well, I was always bitter about family", she tried to explain. "I had Roth of course, and he was very good to me, but it felt… Like he pitied me, I suppose." She took a deep breath, and offered the bottle to Sam, who accepted it and took an uncharacteristically reserved sip; Lara took it as a sign of interest and smiled to herself before she continued. "But after Yamatai, I realized that I hadn't appreciated it enough, and… And, well", she hadn't expected it to be so difficult to speak about, her breath was coiling into a tight ball in her throat, it hurt.

Sam's eyes were pleading for more, but she offered the bottle back to Lara and said, "you don't have to tell me if it's hard". Lara shook her head, but accepted the bottle.

"I did have family. You, and Roth. I didn't properly respect that and…", she stopped to take a sip and collect herself. Sam hadn't budged, and her eyes were glistening. Lara looked down at the bottle, it was easier to speak that way. "I still have you. I never want to be ungrateful for that again."

"Lara…", Sam whined, dragging the last syllable of the name for several seconds. Her hands slid up Lara's back to her shoulders. "After…", it was Sam's turn to choose her words carefully. "After what happened", was what she settled on, "I don't think I could ever feel like you don't appreciate me. Every good thing that has happened to me since the island has only happened because you carried me out of there." She kissed Lara's cheek, and pulled back to carefully search Lara's eyes. She added with a knowing smile, "A lot of them have been good things you did, too, so…"

Lara laughed nervously and set down the whiskey. She was blushing pretty thoroughly, and she wasn't entirely sure why. She wiped her eyes, just in case. No tears had fell, but a few had formed. "Well, thank you."

For a while the pair was silent, looking into one another's faces appreciatively, as if basking in the warmth of a particularly interesting fire. Over time their shared gaze melted into a comfortable embrace. It felt good to share that warmth, and it felt good to have family. Real family.


End file.
